 "'If I don’t push myself at this age, when am I going to push myself': Gukesh on playing back-to-back events on opposite ends of the world")
Indian chess superstar and reigning world champion D Gukesh made a winning start to his home campaign at the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Goa, defeating Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan 1.5-0.5 to move into the third round of the tournament on Wednesday, November 5.
After being held to a draw in the first Classical game, Gukesh bounced back strongly to win the second. The victory will come as a relief for the 19-year-old, who has had a rough patch in recent months since winning the World Championship title last year.
Speaking after the match, Gukesh said he was happy with how things were improving for him. “It’s been an interesting experience. Obviously, the results haven’t been great this year, but recently I’ve started to pick up my form. It’s been a great learning experience, and now we’re here for the World Cup, so the only focus is on this tournament,” he said.
“Today felt quite nice - yesterday was also a good game, though I couldn’t convert it. But today I felt great over the board and played a clean game. It’s not very often you get such a dominant position, so in the end, I was just enjoying it.”
Round 2 | After GAME 2 | Top Results | 2025 FIDE World Cup
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 5, 2025
Find pairings here: https://t.co/KoEE0LdcNb#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/m90POuMCFm
Gukesh on playing back-to-back events
Before the World Cup, Gukesh had taken part in the 2025 Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown featuring the likes of five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, American GM Fabiano Caruana, and the current world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, which he described as a valuable training ground.
“That was also a big event because you don’t often get tournaments with such elite players. It was a great experience and also good training for faster time controls, since in the World Cup there might be some tiebreaks,” he said.
“The jet lag was a bit of a problem, but we had to plan around it. I kept telling myself - if I don’t push myself at this age, then when am I going to push myself?”
The Chennai-born prodigy also expressed his excitement about playing on home soil again after nearly two years.
“It means a lot to me - I actually miss playing in India. There aren’t many tournaments here. The last time I played was in 2023 at the Chennai Grand Masters, so it’s been almost two years. It’s quite exciting for me, and always nice to interact with the crowd. It’s also great not to travel for a change - most tournaments I play require at least ten hours of travel, so playing at home, with that comfort, feels really nice.”
Security mode ON: mandatory when you’re World Champion Gukesh D 👑♟️ #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/xGUrvZl8iR
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 5, 2025
The FIDE World Cup in Goa offers three qualification spots for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, the winner of which becomes the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The event has attracted 206 players from all over the world, who are vying for the Viswanathan Anand Cup.
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